The task of structuring a single orientation pathway for creative career trainers may seem not only difficult and risky, but almost a contradiction in terms.
The artistic and creative fields are numerous and diverse, as are the training approaches, contexts, and methods of tracking and evaluation for each of them. The statement “there is not just one way to do things” has never been so true. And yet, the process of abstraction and synthesis required to identify a lowest common denominator in creative practices within a European consortium that is itself highly diverse, both in terms of its field and context of action, has led us to truly interesting and unexpected results.
We started from practice, from the shared practical and daily elements that constitute and shape the real training experience of each member of the partnership. We drew up a Methodological Framework to help guide us in the subsequent steps, highlighting some topics and key points that, in our view, are common, essential and cannot be overlooked in the training and guidance of all creative careers, beyond specific techniques and learning phases: Inclusion and Equality, Well-Being and Coping with stress, Social Impact of the creative arts, Critical Thinking and Media Literacy, Digitalisation and Entrepreneurial Skills. From there, under the guidance of our colleagues at Rinova, we developed a Diagnostic Tool for trainers, designed to help them understand their strengths and any gaps in one or more of these areas.
But above all, we realised a key concept: that a creative career, whatever it may be, is not a linear path. A creative career may be accessed through formal, non-formal or informal routes, as a completely self-taught person, at various moments in life. One might jump from one area to another, return to it at different points in time, receive recognition either late or very early, or be highly skilled but perhaps isolated.
At that point, we imagined ourselves in the shoes of a mentor who, under the umbrella of these shared key topics, tries to identify at what stage of a creative career their mentee is. We therefore created a profiling map, identifying five basic profiles of mentees: The Dreamer at the Crossroads, The Re-Inventor, The Off-Road Creator, The Depth Diver, The Hidden Gem — five different moments of possible entry into a creative career.
And so our Pathway Model could not be linear, because, as we said before, a creative career is not linear. It had to include multiple access points — at least five, like those on our map — and we wanted it to be physical, tangible, just as creative practice itself is physical and tangible.
We therefore chose to take inspiration from the artisanal model of Art Zines, which are shared in all the countries of the consortium, and created a map that can be printed and cut out, folded, touched, read from different angles, on which notes can be taken and drawings made. Naturally, the tool can also be used as a digital map, but we considered it essential that it should have a physical form. The model includes five different access points from which to begin, before moving freely to other levels. Each access point includes four key training steps plus one free space for customised actions, which the mentee can choose to tackle either independently or with the guidance of a mentor.
At this point, all that remained was to test it, hoping that it would prove effective.
And it was precisely during the training activities held in Skopje in June 2025 that the first confirmations arrived. During a workshop involving managers and mentors from all the partnership countries, we were able to observe the potential efficiency, versatility and adaptability of the Pathway Model to different creative sectors and contexts. We noted how, when used appropriately and customized, it can be a powerful tool for orientation even beyond the field of creative careers.
The training days in Skopje, during which each member of the partnership shared their experience and practical training methodology in a workshop setting, also laid the foundations for the next stages of this P2CC journey, which in the coming phases will lead us to the creation of a guide.
In conclusion, this experience has shown and taught us that the common thread linking creative practices is much stronger than we had expected, just as the large transnational community that operates around artistic training stands firm around the same shared principles.